Monday, 29 April 2013

As
the protest climate in Iran heightens so does the repression against political
and labour activists. In particular, as we get close to May Day and the
presidential elections in June, the regime steps up its repressive measures
from fear of protests. Currently, a number of worker activists sit in jail.
Some have already served several years in prison; some were recently arrested. They
are all in jail for fighting for worker rights. They include:

Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, a labour and children’s rights activist, and a
member of the Committee to Pursue the
Establishment of Workers' Organisations in Iran, who has already served
three years of a five-year sentence, while his 14-year old son is under
treatment in hospital for leukaemia. The extension of his medical leave to be
with his son has been refused.

Reza Shahabi, a member of the executive board of the
Union of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs United Bus Company, has been jailed for
his part in the great bus workers’ strike in 2006 and in building the bus
workers’ union. He has already served three years of a four-year sentence.
Shahabi suffers from multiple medical conditions, including a severe back
problem. The extension of his medical leave has been refused.

Mohammad Jarahi, a member
of the Committee to Pursue the Establishment of Workers’ Organisations in Iran,
was arrested in January 2012 and sentenced to 5 years in prison for union
activity. Following a recent operation on his thyroid gland, the doctors have
advised recuperation outside prison conditions. However, Jarahi has been
refused medical leave.

Sharif Saed Panah, executive
board member of the Free Union of Iranian Workers and an organiser of the
30,000-signature pay-rise campaign, detained and later released in March 2013 on
an $82,000 bail, has been given a six-month jail sentence for “insulting the
regime”.

Mozaffar Saleh Nia, executive board member of the Free Union of
Iranian Workers, was detained last year and again in January this year, was in
March given a six-month jail sentence for “insulting the regime”.

Ghaleb Hosseini, a member of the Co-ordinating Committee to Help
Form Workers’ Organisations, has been in detention since 19 March 2013.

Ali Azadi,a member
of the Co-ordinating Committee to Help Form Workers’ Organisations, has been in
detention since 7 March 2013.

Shahrokh Zamani, a member of Tehran’s Painters Union and the Committee
to Pursue the Establishment of Workers’ Organisations in Iran, was arrested in June 2011 and sentenced to
11 years in prison. Zamani has been subjected to severe tortures and cruelty.
He is now being held in the notorious Rajaei Shahr prison.

Pedram Nasrollahi, a member of the Co-ordinating Committee to Help Form Workers’
Organisations in Iran, is in prison on a 19-month jail sentence.

Rasoul Bodaghi, a member of
the governing board of Teachers’ Trade Association, is serving a six-year
sentence for union activity.

Abdolreza Ghanbari, a
teacher activist, was arrested in December 2009 for taking part in the mass anti-government
demonstration.

***

Through forceful protests in Iran and internationally we can put
an end to this flagrant persecution of labour activists.

Monday, 1 April 2013

Sharif
Saed Panah, executive board member of
the Free Union of Iranian Workers and an organiser of the 30,000-signature
pay-rise campaign, has been released on an $82,000 bail, according to reports
by the Union. Saed Panah was arrested on 10 March in the city of Sanandaj in
the West of Iran and detained without any charges. Meanwhile, six other labour
activists, all members of the Co-ordinating Committee to Help Form Workers’
Organisations, are still in jail. They are: Vafa Ghaderi, Seyed Khaled Hosseini,
Ali Azadi, Behzad Farajollahi, Hamed Mahmoud Nejad and Ghaleb Hosseini.

All these activists are
being held purely for their union activities.

Throughout
the detention of the worker activists, their families have kept up their
protest gatherings outside the Intelligence Ministry building in the city of
Sanandaj.

Arbitrary arrests and
detentions, long prison terms following fabricated trials, torture and abuse,
denial of medical care, threatening the families of the detainees, imposition
of extortionate bails, and so on, are part and parcel of a programme of
persistent persecution which the Islamic regime in Iran practises against
workers demanding their rights and attempting to organise.

Only forceful protests in
Iran and internationally can put an end to this flagrant denial of worker
rights and persecution of labour activists.

***

Delighted at the release of Sharif Saed Panah, Free Them Now! calls for the immediate and unconditional release of the other jailed workers and all political prisoners
in Iran.